Daggerbound

Four hundred years ago, three warriors were sealed inside enchanted swords and cursed to serve whoever holds the blade. The Dervish is one of them, a fiery, restless man who resents his captivity and resents the people who wield him even more.

Edmund, called Learned Edmund, is a scholar who has just left the religious order that raised him. He is given a sword to carry to a distant temple. When bandits attack, he draws the blade to defend himself, and the Dervish is bound to him.

Edmund is gentle, clever and kind without fail, a combination the Dervish has never met in a wielder. That makes him hard to hate and hard to ignore.

The two travel together and collect odd companions along the way. Their road brings cultists, dragons and strange inhuman diplomats. Protecting Edmund proves easier than the Dervish's other task: keeping his own heart out of it.

The sequel to Swordheart, set in the World of the White Rat, it can be read without the first book. Reading it means banter and cozy fantasy adventure, with an m/m romance at the center of the road trip.